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It's one spot lower than in the coaches' poll but the highest the Seminoles have been ranked in the preseason poll since No. 5 in 2004. After going 9-3, they ended the season ranked 15th.

"As a team we don't pay attention to that," FSU senior safety Terrance Parks said. "We try to look past it and focus on the main goal. All of that is good, but when the season kicks off, we have to go out there and take care of business. That's our main focus."

At No. 22, Florida begins outside of the Top 10 for only the third time since 1991. It also is the lowest since beginning the season No. 11 in 2003.

Since 1990, the Gators have been unranked just twice (1990 and 2003) but were ranked in the Top 10 during that span 18 times.

For first-year coach Will Muschamp, none of that matters — at least right now.

"I could care less about the poll," Muschamp said.

Oklahoma begins the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for the 10th time, more than any program in the country. The defending Big 12 champions received 36 of 60 first-place votes and 1,464 points.

Auburn, last season's national champion, will start the season No. 23, one spot behind where it began in 2010.

If the rankings are any indication, the national title race could be a scramble.

Rounding out the top 10 are two of Oklahoma's Big 12 rivals, Texas A&M (No. 8) and Oklahoma State (No. 9), and Nebraska (No. 10), in its first season in the Big Ten after leaving the Big 12.

No. 16 Notre Dame, which opens the season against USF, is ranked for the first time since early November 2009.

As for Oklahoma, no matter where it lands in the preseason, it always expects to make a run at a national championship. It hasn't won it all, however, since 2000.

That's when coach Bob Stoops, in his second season in Norman, led it to its seventh national title. Since then, Oklahoma has lost three BCS championship games.

The Sooners have won the national title four times when they were preseason No. 1 (1956, 1974, 1975 and 1985). The last time they started No. 1 was 2003. That season, they lost the BCS championship game to LSU.

"We're very matter of fact," said Stoops, whose team travels to FSU on Sept. 17. "All we think about is doing the work.

"We're also very aware we're not much different than about 12, 15 other teams that'll be competing for it that have legitimate chances to win it. What are we going to do differently to separate ourselves?"

Having the combination of quarterback Landry Jones and receiver Ryan Broyles is a good place to start.

Jones passed for 4,718 yards and 38 touchdowns last season, his second as a starter, and Broyles was his favorite target. The senior had 131 catches for 1,622 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Jones was forced into a starting role two years ago as a redshirt freshman when Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford went down with a shoulder injury. That was a tough season for the Sooners, who started ranked third but finished it 8-5.

Bradford was one of several key players Oklahoma lost to injury that season, and Jones wasn't the only underclassman who played a bigger role than expected.

"Now two years from that, they have benefited from the maturity and the experience gained from being on the field at an early age," Stoops said. "Our (offensive) line was young, and now two years later, they've got experience and some maturity to them. Same with Landry Jones."

The SEC has won five straight BCS title games and has plenty of candidates to make it six.

"We want to come out and win a national championship, to be undefeated," Alabama safety Mark Barron said. "Every time we step out on the field, one of our motivating factors is to be special."

South Carolina (No. 12), Arkansas (No. 15), Georgia (No. 19), Mississippi State (No. 20) and Florida give the SEC more teams in the preseason poll than any previous conference.

With No. 21 Missouri, the Big 12 had four teams, too. The Pac-12 had three teams with No. 25 Southern Cal joining Oregon and Stanford.

The ACC placed two teams (FSU and No. 13 Virginia Tech) as did the Mountain West (Boise State and No. 14 TCU). The Big East, which finished last season with no ranked teams, has one in the preseason poll, No. 24 West Virginia.

Notable by its absence is Texas. Coming off a 5-7 season, the Longhorns are missing from the preseason Top 25 for the first time since 1998.

Times staff writer Antonya English contributed to this report, which used information from Times wires.

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Associated Press Top 25

First-place votes in parentheses with 2010 record, points (25 for a first-place vote through one for a 25th-place vote) and 2010 final ranking: